One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Discuss deep philosophical topics and questions.
Post Reply
User avatar
Winston
Site Admin
Posts: 37670
Joined: August 18th, 2007, 6:16 am
Contact:

One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by Winston »

"And a lie, Mr. Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between two truths."
- Deep Throat, a secret government agent from the TV series "The X Files"

Here's a philosophical lesson for you all:

Did you know that 100 percent truth does not sell, neither does 100 percent lies? Neither extreme sells or can be popular. In order to sell something well, or to become popular, you gotta MIX truth with lies together. You see, 100 percent truth and honesty doesn't sell well, because truth tends to be ugly and cruel, and sometimes boring too. Not many like the total truth. But to lie about everything 100 percent of the time looks too fake and phony to be believed. There has to be some good truths to draw people, especially those of a positive nature, but not too many truths.

So in order to sell something, like an idea or mass movement or religion or consumer product, one has to know how to effectively mix truth and lies together. That's how you can sell something to the masses. And that's how you can make something popular too, or become popular yourself.

If you notice, this applies to anything popular, such as the Bible and Christianity, New Age teachings, Pop Psychology/Motivational teachings, History, Mythology, the News Media, etc. They are all mixed with truth and lies. And the best salesmen do this too, they mix truth and lies in their sales pitches. The most popular and charismatic people, including politicians, celebrities and New Age gurus, do this too. When they mix truth and lies, they gotta do it carefully so that the lies will look more like exaggerations than bald faced lies, since exaggerations are forgivable to the public as long as they are positive and optimistic in nature.

This applies to fiction too, such as great stories, novels and even great movies. If you notice, the best stories and films are those that contain some truth and meaning. If they contained no meaning or truth, they won't become popular or highly acclaimed. That's why the best stories contain some deeper truths and meaningful lessons, along with fictitious elements of course. If you think about your favorite movies that touched you the most, you will probably notice this. Take "The Works of William Shakespeare" for example. His plays contain fiction and drama, but they are very truthful in revealing the true complexities, glories and tragedies of human nature, life and history. They have mixed truth and fiction masterfully together. Some of his stories contained real historical characters as well, such as Julius Caesar and King Henry V.

Here's a simple analogy: In order to poison someone, you can't give them bottle of pure 100 percent poison. They will not drink it. So what you have to do is mix the poison with large amounts of normal water, so that the poison will not be noticeable. That's how you successfully poison people. All con artists and master manipulators know this and apply this, as well as experts in mass mind control (e.g. Edward Bernays) and the advertising industry.

Every good sales person knows that he or she must use exaggerations and misleading claims, often in gray areas, in order to sell a lot of goods and services. There is a saying in sales and business that "One cannot make a lot of money by telling everyone the complete truth" which is sad but true.

This principle applies to history books and the history we've been taught as well. All intellectuals and great thinkers know that history books are written by the victors, so they contain a mix of truths and lies. Obviously, there are many truths of the past that would make one's own country and heroic leaders look very bad. So they have to be covered up or spun around in a different way, to make oppressors and conquerors look like heroes and liberators, or to falsely pin the blame for their crimes elsewhere.

This is especially true with American history, which contains an unusually high number of lies. Many intellectuals and historians have exposed the lies and crimes of US history that have been covered up, in books such as "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn, "Manufacturing Consent" by Noam Chomsky, "Secrets of the Federal Reserve" by Eustace Mullins, "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin, and many others. Obviously, the elite need people to be proud of their country and have faith in it, in order to have a compliant population. But of course, they cannot publish history books containing 100 percent lies either, otherwise they would not be believable to anyone.

In the TV Series "The X Files", there is a quote by Deep Throat, a secret government agent who acted as an informant to FBI agent Fox Mulder, where he tells Mulder in one episode: "And a lie, Mr. Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between two truths." (Episode E.B.E.) This is so true, if you hide a lie between truths, it becomes the most difficult to detect. Those who are masters in brainwashing and manipulation do just that. And in the movie "V For Vendetta", Natalie Portman's character tells the anti-hero V that, "My father said that politicians use lies to cover up the truth, while artists use lies to tell the truth", to which V applauded as brilliant. So it appears that there are even screenwriters or directors in the TV/movie industry, that knows this secret principle of persuasion.

Anyway, so the lesson here is: Next time you see that something or someone is popular and sells well, know that it probably contains a mixture of truth and lies. Now, if you want to be a truth seeker and try to separate the wheat from the chaff, well, that may be an honorable intention, but it will mean that your life will be a lot more complicated and troublesome as well.

Unfortunately, this also means that if you want to be popular and sell something well, you also gotta find a proper way to mix truth and lies as well. Otherwise, you will not be too popular or appeal to too many people. In order to do that, you will have to compromise your moral principles and integrity somewhat. That's life, that's how this world works.

To deal with this dilemma, persuasion artists try their best to make their "lies" to be as harmless as possible, if they can that is. Or they try to make their deceptive elements appear ambiguous, so they can be interpreted in various ways, in order to cover their asses. They do this by putting their misleading claims into gray areas, and use cherry picking to support them, even if it means alluding to improbable claims. They do this by using slyness, cunning and calculating wits. That's how they protect themselves from lawsuits and accusations of lying. Or, if they have to exaggerate, they will do it in the most positive and optimistic manner, to appear likable, so that people will accept it. After all, people usually prefer hearing a positive lie or exaggeration rather than a negative truth. And if they have to lie, they will "hide it between two truths" per the quote from The X Files.

Anyway, this is how the world works. It's psychology, human nature and political science. I'm sure many of you realized this all along but didn't know how to put it into words and concepts. I guess lies and truths work together as a sort of "ying yang" to balance each other out, in a sort of "union of opposites", at least at the superficial level that most people are attuned to.

We all want to hear something good about ourselves that gives us hope, optimism and something to feel good about, and we will accept that even if it comes in the form of lies and deceptions. Only when we overcome this need for "everything to always be good" and see the transitory illusory nature of reality as it really is, as well as the inevitable cyclical nature of life with its ups and downs, will we be free from needing to hear lies mixed with truths.
Check out my FUN video clips in Russia and SE Asia and Female Encounters of the Foreign Kind video series and Full Russia Trip Videos!

Join my Dating Site to meet thousands of legit foreign girls at low cost!

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne


Meet Loads of Foreign Women in Person! Join Our Happier Abroad ROMANCE TOURS to Many Overseas Countries!

Meet Foreign Women Now! Post your FREE profile on Happier Abroad Personals and start receiving messages from gorgeous Foreign Women today!

User avatar
starchild5
Veteran Poster
Posts: 2165
Joined: December 20th, 2013, 2:32 am

Re: One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by starchild5 »

In short we need a mixture of American women = Fake, Lies & Filipina = Truth, Simple :lol:

Someone a Mix off American + Filipina ..hmmmmmmm....Thai girls perhaps :) :)
TheLight954
Freshman Poster
Posts: 53
Joined: September 11th, 2016, 5:53 pm

Re: One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by TheLight954 »

That's true, but that misses a bigger point:
95% of what you're told about the world is true. The other 5% is what actually matters.

Also regarding history, a lot of things told about history are true but are out of context and/or selected deliberately. You can make anything look good by only listing the positive qualities of it, and you can make anything look bad by only listing the negative qualities of it.
Adama
Elite Upper Class Poster
Posts: 6193
Joined: August 23rd, 2009, 2:37 pm

Re: One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by Adama »

Read the book of James, the brother of Christ. Anyone who intentionally preaches or teaches lies, is at risk of receiving the greater condemnation. Probably even more so if the purpose is to especially to enrich himself. In other words, their souls may be at risk for tricking people in order to enrich themselves. Whoops. Peter also tells us about it in 2 Peter 2. They make people into merchandise with feigned words. Whoops! How much is that money worth? Or what should a man give in exchange for his soul? They want to gain the abundance of life without Christ, through unrighteousness. But what does it profit? Whoops!
A good man is above pettiness. He is better than that.
Adama
Elite Upper Class Poster
Posts: 6193
Joined: August 23rd, 2009, 2:37 pm

Re: One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by Adama »

Winston wrote:
August 2nd, 2016, 3:15 pm
"And a lie, Mr. Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between two truths."
- Deep Throat, a secret government agent from the TV series "The X Files"


If you notice, this applies to anything popular, such as the Bible and Christianity
It seems to me that you are saying that everything is tainted. Unto the pure, all things are pure, but as for the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. Oh well.
A good man is above pettiness. He is better than that.
User avatar
Winston
Site Admin
Posts: 37670
Joined: August 18th, 2007, 6:16 am
Contact:

Re: One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by Winston »

TheLight954 wrote:
January 17th, 2018, 7:52 pm
That's true, but that misses a bigger point:
95% of what you're told about the world is true. The other 5% is what actually matters.

Also regarding history, a lot of things told about history are true but are out of context and/or selected deliberately. You can make anything look good by only listing the positive qualities of it, and you can make anything look bad by only listing the negative qualities of it.
Yeah but if someone tricked you into drinking 95 percent pure water and 5 percent poison, you'd be really sick or die. You know that? So the lies can kill or cause great harm, even if they are only 5 percent. Especially if they are hidden.
Check out my FUN video clips in Russia and SE Asia and Female Encounters of the Foreign Kind video series and Full Russia Trip Videos!

Join my Dating Site to meet thousands of legit foreign girls at low cost!

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne
TheLight954
Freshman Poster
Posts: 53
Joined: September 11th, 2016, 5:53 pm

Re: One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by TheLight954 »

Winston wrote:
January 18th, 2018, 10:10 am
TheLight954 wrote:
January 17th, 2018, 7:52 pm
That's true, but that misses a bigger point:
95% of what you're told about the world is true. The other 5% is what actually matters.
Also regarding history, a lot of things told about history are true but are out of context and/or selected deliberately. You can make anything look good by only listing the positive qualities of it, and you can make anything look bad by only listing the negative qualities of it.
Yeah but if someone tricked you into drinking 95 percent pure water and 5 percent poison, you'd be really sick or die. You know that? So the lies can kill or cause great harm, even if they are only 5 percent. Especially if they are hidden.
What I meant is that most of the things you're told are irrelevant, even if true; the lies are much smaller in number but carry much bigger consequences (such as Gulf of Tonkin/ official 911 story/ WMDs). The idea is to tell the truth as much as possible to gain credibility, and lie when it matters; and when you can get away with it, gain as much as possible from the lie. Also, the media's lies aren't exactly positive in substance either; antipathy towards the common enemy is a common/effective way to stir up emotion.

Also, the situation with American history/many official stories seems analogous to having the population memorize the entirety of a flawed 100 page report, only to have someone else find a glaring substantive flaw in the abstract.
Jonny Law
Experienced Poster
Posts: 1160
Joined: May 13th, 2014, 1:14 pm

Re: One must MIX truth and lies to sell well and be popular

Post by Jonny Law »

starchild5 wrote:
August 3rd, 2016, 1:28 am
In short we need a mixture of American women = Fake, Lies & Filipina = Truth, Simple :lol:

Someone a Mix off American + Filipina ..hmmmmmmm....Thai girls perhaps :) :)
:twisted: JONNY LAW APPROVED!

"American women = Fake, Lies &
Filipina = Truth, Simple :lol:

Someone a Mix off American + Filipina ..hmmmmmmm....Thai girls perhaps"

:evil: YES!
If you love all the NEGATIVES of American women + A look of a Philippines Chick THIALAND IS FOR YOU!

INSTEAD OF GOING TO THAILAND
Go to you local strip club and buy a whore a house!

Thai Women Love
1. LOVE DIVORCE
2. LOVE TO GET ALL YOUR MONEY AND GIVE IT TO HER THAI BOYFRIEND (i.e. Pimp who is bisexual)
3. LOVE NOT HAVING SEX WITH HER HUSAND


ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST MYSTERIES SOLVED!
Question: Why are Thai men all so damn GAY?
Answer: It is because Thai woman are so terrible.
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Deep Philosophical Discussions”